Arthritis At Home 248 – Living with lupus and updates in lupus treatment options
Lupus is the name given to a group of chronic immune diseases. It affects one in 1,000 Canadians. Like many other forms of arthritis, lupus occurs more commonly in women than in men – women develop lupus approximately ten times more often than men do. While it can strike at any age, it tends to occur most often between the ages of 15 and 45. While the exact cause of lupus remains unknown, there are many things which researchers believe may trigger the disease, either alone or in combination with one another. These include genetics, hormones, certain types of antibiotics and other medications, extended and severe stress, viruses, and sun exposure
In this episode of Arthritis At Home, Cheryl Koehn, Founder and President of Arthritis Consumer Experts, and Dr. Sasha Bernatsky, rheumatologist and James McGill Professor at the McGill University Health Centre, have a discussion about lupus symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and care. They also look at barriers to reimbursement access to lupus medications and health disparities and inequities in lupus care treatment and what arthritis community leaders in Canada are doing to address these challenges.
About Dr. Sasha Bernatsky
Sasha Bernatsky, MD PhD is a rheumatologist, a James McGill professor and a senior scientist in the Centre for Health Outcomes Research and Division of Clinical Epidemiology at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. Dr. Bernatsky is nominated principal investigator of the Canadian Network for Advanced Interdisciplinary Methods (CAN-AIM) team. Her work on drug safety and effectiveness includes a large DSEN-funded national registry of patients receiving biosimilar agents and their legacy drugs. Dr. Bernatsky was also a mentor within the CIHR Drug Safety and Effectiveness Cross-Disciplinary Training Program, which provided drug safety and effectiveness training for future scientists in Canada.
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